Out of the Box

Penciling in the crimes

Pakistan

Recording of crimes has never been so easy for police officials in Pakistan. All they need is a pencil and an eraser. Almost all the police stations in Pakistan use lead pencil to make entries in their Roznamcha (daily diary) making it very easy for them to change entries.

Police officials are increasingly committing human rights violations by, among others, keeping detainees under their custody for extended durations without producing them in the courts of law. Most common abuses relates to the legal requirement that a police official making an arrest must immediately record all the relevant facts in the Roznamcha. This legal requirement is meant to ensure that arrested people are treated in accordance with law and are produced in the court of law within 24 hours of arrest. However, in practice, police officials make such entries with lead pencil and frequently change them to skip their responsibilities.

Bursting at the seams

Uganda

Nearly a decade ago, the Kampala Declaration on Prison Conditions in Africa was drawn up to improve the situation of inmates across the continent. In an ironic twist, however, the capital that gave its name to the initiative has yet to meet the goals of the declaration. The same goes for the rest of Uganda. This is how a typical prison in Kampala functions: Prisoners have to sleep in turns - a census done in August 2003 showed that there were 17,523 inmates in Uganda, even though prisons should have only been accommodating 8563. "It is true that the prisons are overcrowded. The situation is so bad that some prisoners have to sleep in turns," said Mary Kaddu, the assistant commissioner of prisons in charge of public relations.

A Prison at Masaka, Uganda Source: Google /images

Prisoners have to walk to court by themselves

Inmates on remand account for 62.2 percent of the total prison population. The problem is aggravated by the fact that, in a country where 38 percent of people live below the poverty line, many prisoners are unable to afford bail. And, when the courts are eventually ready to hear their cases, inmates may not be able to appear before the judge. There is only one old bus that was given to the prisoners recently but is inadequate in transporting prisoners to the courts.

More people, more criminals, less police

Blame has also been laid at the door of the police, who are accused of delaying justice by not concluding their investigations of jailed suspects rapidly enough. However, police claim that they too are the victims of a lack of resources. "As the population grows, criminals also increase. Yet the services in the police and prisons are not growing," said Asuman Mugenyi, spokesman for the Uganda Police. While there were 18,000 police officers in the service in 1971, this number had shrunk to 14, 000 by 2004.

(This article was written by Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura and is being reproduced for this publication.)